Trophy History - Part 2

Little is known about awards or trophies given during the Middle Ages. Chalices, or two-handled cups, were given to winners of sporting events as early as at least the very late 1600s in the New World. An exquisite, small two-handled sterling cup in the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, was given to the winner of a short horse race between two towns in New England about 1699 and is called the Kyp Cup (made by silversmith Jesse Kyp). Chalices, particularly, are associated with sport events, and were typically made in silver and given in horse racing, and later, boating and early automobile racing (which became popular over a century with the birth of the automobile). Sporting awards often take the form of a cup, including the Davis Cup, a major tennis trophy first awarded in 1900, the Stanley Cup, given to National Hockey League champs (1894), and the World Cup, given since 1967 to top male and female alpine skiers, to name a few.
Trophies are less expensive and awarded more frequently, thanks to manufactured plastic trophies. In addition to having a variety of figures from which to choose, trophies are of three primary forms: the clear plastic action figure crowning the base, the gold-colored or silver-colored action figure atop the base, or a rectangular plinth of plastic that is holographically decorated by computer with words or graphic of the event, equipment, or sport scene and placed on the plastic base.

Trophy History - Part 1

Since ancient times trophies have marked victories. In fact, the word "trophy" is derived from the Greek tropaion, which comes from the verb trope, meaning "to rout." In ancient Greece, trophies reflected victory in war, and were created on the battlefield at the place where the enemy had been defeated. These trophies included captured arms and standards, and were hung upon a tree or a large stake made to resemble the figure of a warrior. They were inscribed with details of the battle and were dedicated to a god or gods. Naval trophies consisted of entire ships (or what remained of them) laid out on the nearest beach to represent the conquest. The deliberate destruction of a trophy was considered a sacrilege since it was given in thanks and tribute to a god.

The ancient Romans wanted to keep their trophies closer to home. Instead,. of a tribute to the victors and the gods on the spot of the victory, the Romans had special trophies constructed in Rome. These magnificent trophies often included columns and arches atop a foundation. There remain, still, outside of Rome, huge stone memorials that were originally crowned with sculpted stone trophies, now gone.

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